'Living wage' is issue of Catholic character

Students want Jenkins to institute a $12.10 minimum wage for campus workers.

Students want Jenkins to institute a $12.10 minimum wage for campus workers.

March 06, 2006|MARGARET FOSMOE Tribune Staff Writer

SOUTH BEND -- When University of Notre Dame student Kamaria Porter thinks of Catholic character, she doesn't think of film festivals or feminist plays on campus. What comes to mind is Catholic social teaching about fair wages for workers, she said. "We want the university to continue to be successful, but we also want to address inequities," Porter said. Last fall, Porter and other Notre Dame student activists launched a campus campaign to improve wages for university workers. It's called the Campus Labor Action Project. The students challenged the Rev. John I. Jenkins, Notre Dame's president, to provide a full report of wages and benefits for all campus jobs. They are asking Jenkins to:

Publicly commit to the concept of a living wage for campus workers.

Establish a task force of students, workers, faculty and administrators to work together to develop a "just employment" policy. The Notre Dame Student Senate unanimously passed resolutions backing both goals. Student activists say they are concerned that some full-time campus workers aren't making enough money to adequately support their families. Some Notre Dame employees must seek second jobs or turn to public assistance to make ends meet, Porter said. Notre Dame, with more than 4,000 workers, is St. Joseph County's largest employer. "As we endeavor to be more Catholic, we must address the wage and labor problems on our campus," said Porter, a senior from Chicago. The students are seeking to engage Jenkins in a discussion about a living wage and raising wages for Notre Dame's lowest-paid workers. CLAP leaders say they met with Frances Shavers, Jenkins' executive assistant, and Robert McQuade, associate vice president for human resources, but have not been able to meet with Jenkins. Arrangements are being made for Shavers and McQuade to meet soon with student government leaders, university spokesman Dennis Brown said Friday. "They'll discuss the issues they have raised regarding this issue," he said. The university's starting pay of $8.13 per hour (for a non-tipped, full-time employee) is under the poverty line for a family of four, Porter said. To rise above the poverty level, that worker should be paid a "living wage" of at least $12.10 per hour, she said. (The national minimum wage is $5.15.) The ongoing campus discussion about Notre Dame's Catholic character as it relates to a gay film festival and a student production of "The Vagina Monologues" has captured national media attention. In January, Jenkins told students and faculty that he wanted to launch a public discussion about sponsorship of such events in light of Notre Dame's nature as a Catholic university. "Our Catholic character is shown most in our action toward the people we are closest to, including employees," Porter said. "We can never have a true Catholic character until (Jenkins) engages this issue and makes the change." No employee groups at Notre Dame have ever been represented by labor unions. Wages and working conditions for employees are a growing issue on American campuses. In 2001, Harvard University students occupied the student president's office for 21 days in a successful effort to establish a living wage policy on campus. At Georgetown University last year, 26 students went on a nine-day hunger strike, vowing not to eat until the Catholic university agreed to pay its custodians a living wage. In March 2005, Georgetown adopted a "just employment" policy, according to the Chronicle of Higher Education. In February, 20 Democrats in Congress signed a letter to Georgetown's president, urging him to recognize a request for union representation by subcontracted janitorial workers on campus. And on Tuesday, janitors employed by an outside contractor at the University of Miami (Fla.) began a strike to protest their pay rates and lack of health benefits. Miami students and faculty members five years ago voted in favor of those workers being awarded higher pay, the Chronicle reported. The workers claim their employer has thwarted their efforts to organize a union. Staff writer Margaret Fosmoe: mfosmoe@sbtinfo.com (574) 235-6329